“We don’t know whether Syria will agree with this,’ he said, ‘but if the establishment of international control over chemical weapons in the country will prevent attacks, then we will immediately begin work with Damascus. And we will call on the Syrian leadership to not only agree to putting the chemical weapons storage sites under international control but also to their subsequent destruction.”

We were relieved at his announcement that he would seek Congressional approval for the military strike he is considering to deter the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons against its own people. This is the course we hoped he would take when discussing this on last week’s MOMochat podcast, and in the absence of UN authorization (which he is unlikely to get), we feel that this kind of unilateral action without a legal framework would be disastrous – especially in this situation, where it does not appear a missile strike would do anything to stop the violence in Syria, and may even make things worse.

The White House met with Congressional leaders and received bipartisan endorsements from John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, with Mitch McConnell – who is facing a tough re-election challenge from his isolationist right flank – withholding his approval until he learns more. And today, Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Syria.

“It would be tragic if the upcoming debate became yet another opportunity for Americans in general, and US progressives in particular, to become more divided. People who are inclined to support military intervention aren’t necessarily tools of the military-industrial complex. Those of us who oppose it, or are asking hard questions, aren’t indifferent to the suffering of the Syrian people.”